Christopher Plummer
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Christopher Plummer "An actor should be a mystery," Christopher Plummer Introduction ........................................................................................ 3 Biography ................................................................................................................................. 4 Christopher Plummer and Elaine Taylor ............................................................................. 18 Christopher Plummer quotes ............................................................................................... 20 Filmography ........................................................................................................................... 32 Theatre .................................................................................................................................... 72 Christopher Plummer playing Shakespeare ....................................................................... 84 Awards and Honors ............................................................................................................... 95 Christopher Plummer Introduction Christopher Plummer, CC (born December 13, 1929) is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor and writer of his memoir In "Spite of Myself" (2008) In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theatre, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music. His most recent film roles include the Disney–Pixar 2009 film Up as Charles Muntz, the Shane Acker production 9 as The Last Station as Leo Tolstoy, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as Doctor Parnassus. Plummer was born in Toronto, Ontario, the great-grandson of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Abbott. Following his parents' divorce he moved with his mother to live in Senneville, Quebec, near Montreal. He studied to be a concert pianist but developed a love of the theatre at an early age and began acting in high school. He travelled by train to study with Canadian Repertory Company in Ottawa. Plummer's eclectic career on screen began in 1957 when Sidney Lumet provided him his movie debut in Stage Struck. Since then he has appeared in a vast number of notable films which include the Academy Award winning The Sound Of Music, The Man Who Would Be King, Battle of Britain, Waterloo, The Silent Partner, Dragnet,Inside Daisy Clover, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Malcolm X, Dolores Claiborne, Wolf, Twelve Monkeys, Murder by Decree, Somewhere in Time and Syriana.Recent successes include Michael Mann's Oscar-nominated The Insider playing television journalist Mike Wallace, for which he won the Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas and the National Critics Awards, and Ron Howard's Academy Award winning A Beautiful Mind as well. He played Arthur Case in Spike Lee's 2006 film Inside Man. His most recent film roles include the Disney-Pixar 2009 film Up as Charles Muntz, the Shane Acker production 9 as 1, The Last Station as Leo Tolstoy, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as Doctor Parnassus, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Henrik Vanger, and Beginners as Hal. Plummer has won numerous awards for his work, including an Oscar, two Emmys, two Tonys, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award. With his win at the age of 82 in 2012 for Beginners, Plummer is the oldest actor ever to win an Academy Award. Biography Date of Birth: 13 December 1929, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Birth Name: Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer Arguably the greatest survivor of the two-fisted drinkers' school of acting that included the likes of Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and Albert Finney, classically-trained actor Christopher Plummer established himself on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the finest stage performers of his generation, particularly in Shakespearean roles. After headlining for three of the world's most noted theater companies - Great Britain's National Theater, The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Stratford Festival in his native Canada - Plummer starred in a host of movies; most memorably playing Baron Georg Von Trapp in the smash hit, "The Sound of Music" (1965). Though he remained prolific both on stage and onscreen, earning awards in several mediums, Plummer languished for the next few decades in mostly mediocre projects that were beneath his skill set. But in 1997, he delivered a Tony Award- winning performance as the besotted actor John Barrymore in "Barrymore" that earned him the considerable attention that had previously eluded him. From that point on, he became a much in-demand character actor, playing "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace in "The Insider" (1999), Captain Christopher Newport in "The New World" (2005), and a managing partner of a power law firm in the excellent political thriller, "Syriana" (2005). While he occasionally returned to the stage, as he did with a sterling Broadway performance as the titular "King Lear" (2004), Plummer enjoyed his late-life success on the big screen after his long struggle to achieve it. Born on Dec. 13, 1929 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Plummer was raised by his father, John, who worked at McGill University, and his mother, Isabella, the granddaughter of Canadian Prime Minister John Abbott. Plummer's parents divorced the same year he was born. Having gone to live with his mother in Montreal, the young lad discovered the theater at a young age, taking in various stage productions, ballet and opera throughout his youth. When he was attending Jennings Private School, he worked as a lighting designer on a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which prompted him to trying acting. His first notable role came when he played D'Arcy in "Pride and Punishment." Following high school, he trained with the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa, where he was in countless productions in a mere two years, including "The Infernal Machine," which also featured a young William Shatner, and "Cymbeline." In fact, both Plummer and Shatner worked together in radio drama for the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Though he made his small screen debut in a televised production of "Othello" (CBC, 1951), Plummer spent most of the decade honing his chops on the stage. Plummer left the comfortable confines of Canada to join a repertory company in Bermuda, where he performed in productions of "The Little Foxes," "The Petrified Forest" and "Nina," which led to touring with American theater companies. He soon found himself making his Broadway debut as George Phillips in "The Star Cross Story" (1954), starring Katherine Cornell, but the show only lasted one night. Also that year, he again starred with Cornell in Christopher Fry's "The Dark Is Light Enough," followed by a turn in the short-lived "Home Is the Hero." Plummer found great critical success portraying the Earl of Warwick in Jean Anouilh's "The Lark" (1955), opposite Julie Harris. Following a Paris production of "Medea" (1955) opposite Judith Anderson, he returned to Canada and joined the Shakespeare Festival company in Stratford, Ontario, where he thrived in the title roles of "Henry V" (1956), which also starred Shatner as the Duke of Gloucester, and "Hamlet" (1957). Plummer demonstrated equal facility with comic parts like Sir Andrew Aguecheek in "Twelfth Night" (1957) and Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing" (1958). On American television, Plummer appeared in "Kraft Theatre" productions of "The Light That Failed" and "The Web," while playing Miles Hendon in the adaptation of Mark Twain's novel, "The Prince and the Pauper" (CBS, 1957). Following Hallmark Hall of Fame productions of "Johnny Belinda" (NBC, 1958) and "Little Moon of Alban" (NBC, 1958), he made his feature debut in "Stage Struck" (1958), Sidney Lumet's remake of Zoe Akins' 1933 stage play, "Morning Glory." In an attempt to settle down, Plummer married actress Tammy Grimes in 1956 and a year later had his only child, Amanda Plummer, who grew up to become a notable actress in her own right with performances in "Agnes of God" (1985) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994). After divorcing Grimes following four years of marriage, he portrayed Mercutio in a Shakespeare Festival production of "Romeo and Juliet" (1960). Making his London debut, he portrayed King Henry II in "Becket" (1961), which earned him the London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor. After playing Christian in a production of "Cyrano de Bergerac," Plummer reprised "Hamlet" for a televised production marking the 400th birthday of Shakespeare in 1964. Widely hailed by critics, his sterling performance marked a significant breakthrough for the young actor. Following a strong portrayal of the reckless emperor Commodus in "The Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964), Plummer had his greatest success on the big screen with his performance as the aloof widow Captain Georg Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" (1965). Starring Julie Andrews as a young nun sent by her convent to be a governess for the numerous Von Trapp children, only to fall in love with the captain, "The Sound of Music" was a monster hit, an Oscar winner and the last of the old-fashioned Hollywood movies before the more experimental films of the late-1960s and early-1970s. Though his performance was exquisite as usual, Plummer's singing left something to be desired - at least compared to Andrews - which led director Robert Wise to overdub his voice. He next starred in "Inside Daisy Clover" (1966), a critically panned drama about a tomboy-turned-starlet (Natalie Wood) who reaches stardom in Hollywood, only to suffer a mental breakdown.